The Cotton Gin

The Cotton Gin


Brennan Reynolds

Period 7

02-28-14

World History

Mr. Thompson



Cotton Gin During Industrial Revolution




In 1765 a pioneer named Eli Whitney was born in Westboro,Massachusetts on December 8, 1765. Before inventing the cotton gin Eli attended Yale college in 1789 until he graduated in 1792. 1 year after after he graduated from Yale college Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin. The purpose of the Cotton Gin was to speed up the process of the cotton separating process. The Cotton Gin soon became popular in the South.



. Growing up, Whitney, whose father was a farmer, proved to be a talented mechanic and inventor. Among the objects he designed and built as a youth were a nail forge and a violin. According to (http://articles.chicagotribune.com) “In 1792, after graduating from Yale College (now Yale University), Whitney headed to the South. He originally planned to work as a private tutor but instead accepted an invitation to stay with Catherine Greene (1755–1814), the widow of an American Revolutionary War (1775-83) general, on her plantation, known as Mulberry Grove, near Savannah,Georgia.” While he was there, Whitney learned about cotton production–in particular, the difficulty cotton farmers faced making a living. This led him to inventing the cotton gin in 1793.


The Cotton Gin was invented in 1793 by Eli Whitney. Its purpose was to make picking

cotton from raw cotton fibers. According to (http://inventors.about.com) Eli failed to profit from the cotton gin due to limitations of the cotton. Eli got held up in court until 1807 which caused

Eli to lose money of what he could have made. Farmers through Georgia resented having to go to Eli Whitney's cotton gins where they had to pay what they regarded as an exorbitant tax.

Since the farmers didn’t want to go to Eli’s Invention they invented their own and profited off of their invention. By mid-19th century the cotton gin became America’s leading export....

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